Valentin Petrov: Critical thinking and media literacy in society are the essential things for countering information fakes

The development of truly independent journalism, media literacy and critical thinking in society are the essential things for countering information fakes. This was stated by Head of Service on Issues of Information Security of the Staff of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Valentin Petrov during the discussion "Information security: how the state should avoid turning into a monster" organized jointly by "The Ukrainian Week" magazine and Bookstore "Ye".

According to him, the issue of freedom of information flow depends on the trust of society to the state and state institutions. "Absolute freedom of information does not and could not exist. There are ethical, moral, and legal restrictions", - Mr. Petrov said.

The Head of Service on Issues of Information Security of the NSDC Staff also commented on the issue of blocking the information resources of the aggressor country and relevant content. "The state protects its taxpayers, and there should be legal instruments for this. Information resources or content should only be banned by a court decision. And clear mechanisms must be developed for this", - he said explaining that if there is a criminal proceeding, the facts of the violation are documented, and there is evidence that a particular resource is involved in unlawful activities, then this resource must be lawfully blocked.

He added that the Ukrainian legislation, in particular, the Criminal Code, contains over 40 articles, which are somehow related to the responsibility for information flow. "This also refers to intellectual property, commercial secrets, the privacy of correspondence, etc. This means that, in fact, free information flow does not exist. So the fundamental question here is about trust to the state and state institutions", - Mr. Petrov said.o

Valentin Petrov also stated that, despite different views in society on this, Ukraine is actually winning the information war. "Let's stop sprinkling ashes upon our heads! We are not losing the information war, in fact, we are winning it, and there are many examples. Volunteers, civil society, and the state are doing everything possible for this", - he stressed.